The Senate has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to urgently extend the withdrawal date of old currency notes from January 31 to June 30, 2023 . The Senate resolution was sequel to a point of order raised by Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume ( APC Borno) during the plenary on Wednesday. Recalls that the CBN had on October 26, announced plans to redisign the 200, 500, 1000 naira notes. Raising orders 41 and 51 of Senate Standing Rule, Ndume said that the call for extension of date should be considered as a matter of urgent national importance in order to forestall imminent hardship on Nigerians. Ndume said this Senate notes that many Nigerian banks on Thursday December 15 opened their vaults to customers and depositors to exchange their old currency notes which has a stipulated deadline of January 31. Some Nigerians are already envisaging long queues in the banking hall across the country as a result of people trying to get access to the new naira notes. The Lawmaker also said that access to the new notes would be compounded by recent Circular by the Central Bank of Nigeria which limited the amount of cash withdrawal by Corporate entities of cash withdrawal within certain period of time. He stated, “The withdrawal of old notes from circulation if not extended beyond Jan. 31, many Nigerians will be thrown into hardship and to avoid the repeat of what the people experienced during the 1984 withdrawal of old notes to new ones. The old notes are expected to be in circulation along with the new naira notes until January 31, 2023 when the old ones are expected to be phased out.
REDISIGN NAIRA NOTES; Senate urges CBN to extend withdrawal date to June 30
